


small secret

by cedricsboyfriend



Series: hedric shorts [8]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Prompt Fic, Short & Sweet, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-08
Updated: 2021-03-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 13:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29917821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cedricsboyfriend/pseuds/cedricsboyfriend
Summary: tumblr short loosely based on the prompt "hedric + swimming lessons"also, cue the cheese
Relationships: Cedric Diggory/Harry Potter
Series: hedric shorts [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1688842
Kudos: 22





	small secret

The sun held high in the sky, pressing down in a golden glaze against long-grassed hills and patched soil, as a chorus of buzzing lanced through the thick heat. In fresh applause, cicadas sang from the edge of a forest and dragonflies skimmed across a shallow stream, brilliant eyes and wings catching light as it fell forth. Two figures lumbered down the hill beside a little dirt-path, they shielded their eyes from the brightness.

“I thought you could swim,” Cedric said, breathing shallowly.

“I can,” said Harry back.

Cedric stumbled bewilderedly after him then, blue towel and an old camera in hand. The hair swept from his face as his shoes scuffed faster against the dirt.

“Then why did you ask—”

“I just,” Harry’s ears flushed, red, “I wanted to be alone… with you,”

Summer had descended in its great, stifling heat.

Cloudless skies and absent wind made for the wretched silence of the trees, who stood tall beside still yellowed meadows bathing in an endless, warm breath that settled over their chirruping. What bushes and logs remained within the stretches of fields and forest came alive with little wild sounds, only ever turned over through the scuttlings of the things between them.

Cedric and Harry held hands. Despite the heat, they clambered and helped each other over boulders and crossed a large fallen log, each time knowing that they grew closer and closer to the creek.

Every now and then, they stopped to marvel at the tall tree-trunks that lined their path, and they watched as the distance shrunk between them and the basin below: the sound of that waterfall and its gushing, welled up alongside their excitement, until they found themselves running to reach the path’s end.

Water leapt high into the air as they came to a ledge of sorts, the trees folding away to reveal a small pool; light glimmered and flashed as the water’s reflection lapped up worn stone walls, and to their right, a modest waterfall babbled and dashed into white foam.

They shed down to their shorts, laying their clothes against unfurled towels in the shade of the trees. Cedric took to setting up his little camera in the nook of a branch, and Harry came up from behind him, curious.

“How were you planning on doing it?” he asked.

“What?”

“Teaching me how to swim,”

Cedric stopped, fingers flicking the camera’s timer. Timidly, he held out his hand.

Harry took it.

“Take a big breath,” he said.

_“Sorry?”_

Without warning, Harry felt himself be pulled along as Cedric began sprinting to the edge of the outcrop.

“Big breath, Harry!” he cried again.

They jumped.

A taut but rushing elation seized Harry’s stomach and chest as he soared, holding onto Cedric’s hand tightly. Below, the water winked at them once more before he soon felt himself falling in a faster motion of time.

_Splash!_

They hit the water together.

Cedric surfaced, gasping. He found that his view was wholly obscured by the darkened strands of hair that stuck fast to his face, and he leant backward, treading water. A string of wonderfully Weasley-flavoured curses shot out, ringing around him.

“I’m—! _Merlin!”_ gasped Harry, finally. Somewhere else, Cedric began to laugh.

The sound echoed in a pleasant resonance around the pool; the trickle of water, Harry’s breath, and the cicada’s chirping from above, lilted amongst the crispness that hung about the air. Cedric kicked slowly, enjoying the detachment, the weightless motion that guided his feet and arms as he soaked in the stillness. But then he heard splashing; Harry was swimming closer.

Wordlessly, fingers brushed the hair from his face as best as they could, releasing his eyes to the light. Cedric blinked once before his sight cleared, and Harry drifted in front of him, shoulders bobbing up and down above the water with a grin.

“So, what now?” Cedric asked, spellbound.

“What do you mean?”

“Well… we’re alone,”

Realization flashed, fleeting and bright in Harry’s eyes as he wiped his face. There was something in his chest tugging at him before he swum even closer, and Cedric watched him, heart thudding. He began to close the gap too.

They swum until Harry could press a hand around Cedric’s neck, fingers sliding down his broad shoulders until they thread through the back of his head, pulling him closer. Water sloshed between their bare chests.

“I wonder…” Harry murmured. His lashes lay low as he grinned slightly, and he rest his arm against Cedric’s shoulder, their noses but mere inches away from touching.

Staring, Cedric brought a hand to Harry’s cheek. He leaned forward.

A fresh shock of water staggered his senses as he felt himself be pushed under, cool water slapping over the back of his nape.

When Cedric resurfaced again, throwing his head back in a gasp for air: Harry laughed madly, already kicking away.

Rapt in his own incredulous laughter, Cedric followed, churning great waves to splash him from behind. He watched as Harry escaped and climbed onto a ledge beside the waterfall, trying to shake the water from his black hair before he pointed to the sky.

Drops of water gleamed as it slipped off his strong arms, and green eyes flashed; they rendered Cedric _helpless_ , and Harry grinned down at him.

“Race you!” he said.

Two figures chased after each-other, laughing, shouting, as they ran to the top the waterfall. 

In the nook of the tree, the camera kept their small secret in its roll of film.


End file.
